How to Clean Your Camera Gear and Prepare for Selling

Cleaning and Preparing Your Gear for Sale

It’s important to know how to clean your camera body, lenses, and equipment prior to listing it for sale: a picture’s worth a thousand words! You want your gear to be seen in the best possible light when you post it for sale. Nice photos of well-kept gear can do wonders for boosting the amount of views your listing gets, which will in turn improve your chances of selling.

What gear to clean

Essentially, you’ll want to clean ALL your camera equipment before listing, selling, and shipping. But specifically, it is most important to know how to clean camera bodies and camera lenses. These same principles can, however, be applied to pretty much any piece of gear you are looking to sell.

What you'll need to get started

• Lens brush
• Air blower
• Microfiber cloth
• Camera lens cleaning solution
• Gloves (optional)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDSkDDPRUmE

Lens Cleaning Step 1:  Wipe away dust and debris

Use the lens brush to wipe away any dust on the lens glass as well as the body of the lens. Be sure to get the brush into the little nooks where the autofocus and stabilizer buttons are housed. You can also use the hand pump air blower to gently blow bits of debris off the lens. This can be helpful in some of the harder-to-reach areas on the lens. Be sure to hold the lens above the blower so that the particles can fall down and away from the lens.

Lens Cleaning Step 2: Use microfiber cloth to detail the glass

Now that most of the larger debris and dirt has been blown or wiped off, you can polish with the microfiber cloth. You want to do this AFTER the initial dusting so that you aren't pushing particles into the class and causing any abrasions. Gently wipe away at the smudges/fingerprints that may be present on your lens glass. Be careful not to wipe too vigorously - be patient and wipe with care.

Lens Cleaning Step 3: Polish with camera lens cleaner

Be sure to use a cleaning solution that has been formulated to work with camera lenses. Apply a small amount of the solution and wipe away using the microfiber cloth. This will help remove any water spots or tougher smudges that couldn't be removed with the microfiber cloth alone. Be sure to replace the lens caps when finished cleaning.

Camera Body Cleaning Step 1: Prep camera and dust with your brush

Ensure that the cap is firmly in place to keep all dust particles and debris away from the sensor. Use a brush to remove larger dust particles and debris from the camera body. Dust all over the body paying special attention to the buttons and knobs on the camera.

Camera Body Cleaning Step 2: Wipe down the camera body and LCD screen

Once finished, use a microfiber cloth to wipe down the exterior of the camera body to remove any smudges. It is recommended that you use a different microfiber cloth to clean the LCD screen so that you don't transfer any of the oils from your skin to the camera.

Camera Body Cleaning Step 3: Blow dust out of sensor housing

Now you are ready to clean the internal components of the camera body. Remove the body cap and tilt the camera so the sensor is facing down. Be extremely careful to ensure the tip of your air blower does not touch the internal components to your camera. Blow gentle puffs into the sensor housing and allow debris to fall down out and away from the camera. When finished, replace the body cap to prevent any further dust from entering the camera body.

Camera's All Clean and Ready for Sale!

That's it! Your camera or lens is all cleaned up and ready to be photographed and listed for sale on Gear Focus! It’s not a bad idea (and only takes a few minutes!) to clean your camera equipment once again before packaging and shipping. When you are ready to ship, check out our helpful blog on packaging your camera gear. Lots of helpful tips there, and of course if you have any questions or comments we'd love to hear from you! Comment below or reach out to us at anytime!